The Evolution Of Modern Legal Philosophy And The Study Of Marx's Critical Thinking On Legal Philosophy

Modern legal philosophy is a theoretical exploration with the birth of capitalist mode of production.Its core topics include not only the social and political issues such as the formation of public power,the checks and balances of power distribution,the principled position and value pursuit that should be followed in legislation,but also the theoretical issues such as the source,connotation and limits of individual rights,the connection between the human mental structure and the actual actions.From the perspective of intellectual background,the core concepts of modern legal philosophy,such as rights,contracts,natural law can be traced to the ancient Western thought,but after modern law philosophers’ transformation,these terms were given distinct meanings of individualism.This shows the mainstream spirit of modern Western society.From the perspective of historical change,the great events such as the Renaissance,the Reformation,the revival of the Roman Law,and the rise of capitalism were the realistic soil of modern philosophy of law.This thesis mainly selects Hobbs,Locke,Rousseau,Hume,Kant,and Hegel as the main research subjects of modern legal philosophy.This selection is due to their academic endeavors were originally creative contributions which made the modern legal philosophy constantly perfect.Hobbes stripped the theological coat of modern law philosophy,integrated natural law,individual rights and social contract,constructed the basic framework of modern legal philosophy and provided the direction of the development of legal philosophy.Locke corrected Hobbes’s conservative political position and vividly expressed liberal political ideas.He also received the title of "the ancestor" of liberalism.Rousseau perceived the opposition between the individual and the state in Hobbes and Locke’s theories and attempted to fill in the gap by the"dual" contracts and "general will".He also highlights the weight of "equality" in modern legal philosophy.More importantly,his emphasis on the collective will profoundly influenced the value orientation of Kant and Hegel’s legal philosophy.Hume,while adhering to the empiricist line,discussed the premise of modern legal philosophy,that is,the "rational" ability of human beings.He believed that the"rationality" could not guide people’s actions,thus destabilizing the rationality of modern "natural law".The philosophy of law encountered a comprehensive crisis.At the same time,Hume’s utilitarianism has also profoundly affected Bentham and John Mill.The modern transformation of liberalism had to come.In the face of various challenges and doubts,Kant demonstrated the core theory of modern legal philosophy from the perspective of transcendental philosophy.He improved theoretical level of concepts such as freedom,social contract and individual rights by the obscure,esoteric and speculative philosophical language,and effectively defended the various claims of modern legal philosophy by connectting legislative principles with moral principles,.Hegel’s legal philosophy was a kind of summary similar to his philosophy,From the point of view of logic,he dialectically expounded the concept of rights such as freedom and equality in modern philosophy of law.At the same time,he introduced historical factors into the modern philosophy of law and criticized the elements of fiction and abuse in modern philosophy of law.He resolved the opposition between the individual and state from the perspective of metaphysics.In this sense,Hegel completed the modern legal philosophy.But Hegel’s conservative political position and the theological components of his legal philosophy also indicated the final decline of modern legal philosophy.Marx’s critique of modern legal philosophy had a process.In the early stage,he mainly focused on philosophical speculation and pointed out that Hegel’s legal philosophy had a fundamental flaw in the application of logic.At the same time,Marx revealed the essence of freedom and equality advocated by modern legal philosophy from Hegel’s dualistic framework between political state and civil society,The historical materialism orientation of legal philosophy was already appeared in this process,especially through the study of classical political economics,this leap became more obvious.After the establishment of historical materialism,Marx scientifically answered the core issues in the modern legal philosophy,comprehensively exposed and criticized the metaphysics of modern legal philosophy and the class nature in reality,which also indicated the complete collapse of modern philosophy of law.Otherwise,we must admit that Marx’s criticism of legal philosophy also needs some additional supplements and detailed expansions.This means that we must combine the Marxism with Chinese traditional culture in the historical process of China’s reform and opening up.China strives to contribute to the Oriental wisdom and the Chinese plan will promote the continuous advancement and improvement of this issue.